The Influence of Modified Mirror Therapy on the Structure of White Matter Fiber Tracts in Patients with Cerebral Infarction and Hemiplegia

ZHU Yue; HUANG Meiyi; ZHANG Lei; JIANG Hongxin; SUI Rubo

doi:10.3969/j.issn.2096-305X.2025.04.009

Abstract：Objective To investigate the modified effect of modified mirror therapy on clinical neurological deficits in patients with cerebral infarction and hemiplegia,and to observe the changes in white matter fiber bundles through DTI combined with DTT imaging.Methods 80 patients with acute cerebral infarction who visited the Department of Neurology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University from January to December 2023 were randomly divided into a control group(conventional rehabilitation treatment)and an observation group(conventional rehabilitation treatment+modified mirror therapy),with 40 cases in each group.After three months of treatment for both groups of patients,the FMA-UE and ADL scores were used to compare the improvement of neurological deficits before and after rehabilitation in the two groups.At the same time,the differences in the fractional anisotropy(FA)of white matter fiber tracts in the brain between the two groups were compared using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)combined with diffusion tensor tractography(DTT)sequences.Results At the beginning of the group enrollment,a comparison of the baseline data between the observation group and the control group showed no statistically significant difference(P＞0.05);both the FMA-UE and ADL scores of the two groups after treatment were higher than those before treatment,and the observation group was significantly higher than the control group,with a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05);the FA values of the corticospinal tract in both groups after treatment were higher than those before treatment(P＜0.05),and the FA value of the observation group was(0.561±0.038),which was significantly higher than that of the control group(0.521±0.037),with a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).The FA value of the corticospinal tract in the observation group after treatment was positively correlated with the FMA-UE and ADL scores(r=0.391,P＜0.001;r=0.395,P＜0.001).Conclusion The modified mirror therapy may promote the recovery of clinical neurological deficits in patients with cerebral infarction and hemiplegia by improving the structure of the white matter fiber tracts in their brains.